In 1946, Kruger, born in Switzerland, took his first steps to becoming a photographer using a secondhand Rolleiflex and with the help of Maria Austria and Aart Klein. His real learning process began a year later under the tutelage of Carel Blazer, who taught him the photographic techniques. As Blazer's pupil, Kruger learnt to concentrate on the essence of a subject. From the start, photography was a means for him to express his social involvement.

From 1948 to 1951, Kruger worked as a freelance photographer and subsequently on the payroll of De Waarheid until 1960. Although initially Kruger barely received any recognition in this capacity, his work gradually also attracted the attention of people beyond the newspaper's readership. In 1959, he was invited to become a member of the GKf (professional association of photographers) and in 1961 he won the Silver Camera Award (prestigious award for press photographers in the Netherlands) for a photo that he had taken two years earlier of the miners' strike in the Borinage region.   

After leaving De Waarheid, he continued to work as a freelance photographer. He worked for government agencies, publishers, corporations and environmental organizations. In 1983, he settled permanently in Sweden, concentrating on nature photography and photos of his family. A monograph of his work was released four years later at a retrospective exhibition in the Amsterdam Historical Museum. In 1997, Kruger was one of the first Dutch photographers to create a book on CD-ROM about his own family: In lief en leed sinds 1947. Suze Henriët en Dolf Kruger (Times of joy and sorrow since 1947. Suze Henriët and Dolf Kruger).

<< Back